Daniel Ber and Athena's Rebellion Book 1: The Son of Heracles
by Imikid
Summary: Years after the giants have fallen; the discovery of a new demigod will set in motion a series of events that will lead to an unavoidable rebellion. Who is Daniel Ber and how is he the son of Heracles?


**New York City, The Bronx...**

A quiet neighborhood is thrown into chaos as an apartment building erupts in flames. Innocent families rush out of the inferno with as many of their possessions as they could while firefighters roll in on their trucks to combat the flames. But very soon the firefighters are chased out as well by something more dangerous than the fire...

The sixteen year old is tackled through the wall then tossed into another wall, surprising the nearby firefighters looking for anyone left behind in the burning building. The offending cyclops turns toward the firefighters with its gleaming eye and licking his jagged teeth. But the next moment, the boy launches back from the hole in the wall and smashes the cyclops into the opposing wall with his elbow.

"Guys run!" the boy barks at the two firefighters. They take his advice and rush away from the scene.

As soon as they are gone, the boy leaps at the recovering cyclops and collides with him with a double kick that sends them both to the ground. With his next move, the boy wraps his body around the cyclops' upper torso and start to hammer at the monster's head with his knee repeatedly and brutally. After the fourth hit, the cyclops manages to pull out one of his bulky arms and lift it up to block the boy's shots before slowly climbing to his feet. The next thing the boy knows, he is caught in the cyclops' grasp and is slammed against the wall repeatedly before the cyclops pries the boy off then tosses him across the floor. Quickly recovering, the boy slides to a stop then pops his knuckles with a clenched fist before he buries it into the cyclops' sternum as he charged. The cyclops regurgitates – _something_ – then tries to strike the boy with a hammer fist but the boy spins around the fist then shoots a spinning heel into the cyclops' jaw, completely shattering the joint. The cyclops moans in pain and falls to his knees holding his cheek and the boy moves in to perform a powerful shin kick. Suddenly, the cyclops catches his leg in mid-kick and grins, sending chills down the boy's spine as the cyclops stands up and catapults the teen through the wall. The boy busts through the wall then bounces off of the roof before rag dolling to the ground hard. The boy shakes his head to shake away the blurry vision then looks up to see the cyclops charging again. Reacting quickly, the boy rolls forward and shoots his foot out and into the foot of the cyclops, tripping him and the cyclops face plants into the floorboards.

The boy rolls to his feet as the cyclops climbs onto his hands and knees where the boy charges in and throws another shin kick. But this time, the cyclops turns with surprising speed and catches the boy's leg in his mouth, biting into it with the good side of his jaw. The boy yelps in pain then tries to pry open the monster's mouth to free his leg when a heart-sinking sound suddenly reaches their ears. The boy glances up to see the roof beginning to give way from the combination of the fire weakening it and all the weight above it. With heavy beads of sweat rolling down his face, the boy turns his attention back to the cyclops and starts to pound away at his face mercilessly. But the cyclops won't budge and what's worse he wraps his muscular arm around the boy's leg and raises his arm to defend his eye! Smart son of a bitch! Still the boy hits the monster desperately with blow after blow and even starts to elbow the cyclops' head like a jackhammer as the roof above starts to creak and cry at an uncomfortable rate. Finally, with one last – and hard – elbow to the top of the head, the cyclops yelps with pain and releases the boy. But as the boy tries to make a run for it, he steps with his injured leg and the pain rivets through his body and he falls forward with a painful sigh. Suddenly, the roof finally gives way and all of the weight from the floor above them crashes down onto the boy and the cyclops, covering them in burning debris.

Thankfully, the boy had braced himself at the last second. He took the initial pain of that entire weight landing on top of him and now all he had to deal with were the flames that were spreading all over the debris pile. With a small grunt, the boy begins to crawl out of the debris inch-by-inch. He is able to make it out and after crawling out a few feet he rolls onto his back with a relieved sigh.

"Tch...good thing I'm indestructible..." he sighs and chuckles to himself. Just then, he hears the debris pile moving and he sits up with a start to witness the cyclops rise from the burning debris – his head bleeding profusely.

"Yer pithin' me off boy..." the cyclops growls.

"Right back at'cha, bub," the boy sighs as he climbs to his feet, avoiding putting much weight on his injured leg.

The cyclops begins to walk out of the debris, crushing wood underfoot. "You did a good job hiding yourthelf demigawd...I spent yearth trying to thniff you out among thothe humanth..."

"Yeah well, you better be prepared for a few more years of hunger," the boy grumbles. The cyclops laughs in response, getting a surprised look from the boy.

"You're too unique to let you thlip by, boy! You are a thpethial kind of demigawd that doethn't come around often enough. You are a boy that every monthter wanth to dethtroy with their bare teeth and clawth...can you gueth why?"

"Like the rest of New York, I can honestly give two shits," the boy says as he brings his fists to just above his head and his injured foot forward. "Come on and finish it bub..."

The cyclops grits his teeth and charges, pulling his arm back to swing it at the demigod. But just before he could, the boy uses the cyclops' slightly-bent knee and kicks off with his good leg to launch a flying knee right into the cyclops' eye. The cyclops stumbles backwards with a roar off pain and he falls onto the burning debris pile. Quickly, the boy climbs on top of the cyclops and starts to wail on cyclops with punch after punch after punch. The cyclops tries to throw the boy off but the boy would continuously elbow his arms away to the point where they became broken and useless. The boy continues to hammer into the cyclops, the cyclops becoming less and less responsive with each blow until the boy brings his fist all the way back and clenches his fist so hard that veins begin to appear all over the boy's arm. He brings his fist down for the final time with a roar erupting from his mouth; the next moment the room erupts with scattering debris and dust as the surrounding walls explode...

**The next morning...**

The jeep cruises to a stop, they are essentially entering city limits at this point and already they are getting Big Apple fever because of their occasional bark at people in other cars.

Four boys occupy the jeep; two in the front seats, one in the back, and the last sleeping in the _very_ back. The older teen driving has dark-brown hair and near-red brown eyes while the boy riding shotgun to him has blue eyes and blonde hair hidden under a black beanie. With the teen in the back seat, he is very well built with a muscular build but an athletic undertone. He has more dirty-blonde hair done up in a flattop and brown eyes with a Native American tone on his skin. Finally, the boy in the very back is the youngest of the small group with short, frizzy, black hair and forest green eyes that you could see if he _wasn't_ sleeping...

"Remind me what we're doing here again?" the beanie teen asks after yelling at a taxi driver.

"Bruce?" the driver asks.

The boy in the back seat takes in a breath and lets it out with a sigh. "Chiron had received reports from our agents in the New York Fire Department about a fight that broke out in the middle of a burning apartment building. The combatants were reported to be a boy and a cyclops."

"So...they think the kid's a demigod?" beanie boy asks.

"Yeah, they're sending us in to check him out," the driver explains.

"Why?"

The driver slaps his own forehead. "Colt...it's because the kid looked fifteen to sixteen years old, and when was the last time a demigod was brought to camp older than thirteen?"

"Right, gotcha" Colt nods. "That's a pretty well-hidden demigod if he turns out to be one."

"Indeed," Bruce responds with a nod. "To think that he was hidden even amongst our agents, who are trained to pick out demigods."

"Guess their parent _really_ doesn't want him to come with us," the driver shrugs.

"Our day-to-day lives include climbing rock walls with lava pools beneath us, training to use real swords and spears, and on our not-so-routine days we fight deadly monsters out to eat us," the boy in the very back mutters as he sits up groggily. "Show me a kid that actually looks forward to all that and I'll gladly reveal where my secret stash of Big Red can be found..."

"Morning Steve," the driver smirks.

"Mornin' Jace," the groggy teen replies as he climbs over the back seat and plops down.

"Okay, explain to me again why we brought the laziest Roman in the entire camp along on this search and rescue?" Colt asks.

"Colt if you don't shut up I'm having Bruce grind your ass on the pavement," Jace laughs.

"What? I'm not the one who sleeps every five minutes!"

"Quiet Colt," Bruce barks as he nods forward. "There's our crime scene." They approach the apartment that was ablaze the night before, now mostly black with soot and ashes, outside a firefighter stands waiting for them...

**…**

The faces inside the firehouse are twisted with fear as worry as they hear their fellow firefighter and chief yelling at each other behind the closed door of the office...

"I'm not questioning your skills as a firefighter, dammit Pris!" the Chief barks. "What I _am_ questioning is why _your_ son was fighting someone _inside_ a burning death trap! He could've gotten himself killed!"

"I know that, _sir_! But I don't know why he was in there let alone fighting someone!" Priscilla barks back angrily. "You draggin' me in here was the first time I heard of the situation, last time I checked he was at home readin' his comic books!"

"Maybe that's the _problem_!" the chief shouts. "Those comic books are giving him the idea that he could be some kind of superhero!"

"You callin' my kid an idiot?" Priscilla demands with her hand slamming down on the table.

The chief straightens himself and rubs the bridge of his nose and lets out a deep breath as he speaks a much softer tone. "No, I am not calling him an idiot. Lord knows he saved my daughter once and he isn't failing his classes in school. He's a good kid, Pris. I just don't want to see him getting into trouble or getting himself hurt...well...at least more than the norm..."

Priscilla straightens up as well. "He can take care of himself, chief. But I'll be sure to have a talk with him once we get home."

"It's a shame his father ran off on you two," the chief sighs as he sits back down in his chair. "Might have made a difference in that kid's life."

Priscilla shifts uncomfortably then turns to leave. "Yeah..."

Outside – inside a dark-blue, beaten up Ford Mustang – Priscilla's son waited for his mother. He has black hair, short, and slightly spiked. His dark-blue eyes are deep and thoughtful. Bandages cover several areas on his person – injuries from the night before. He has bandages all over his right hand and elbow, under his faded-blue jeans his right shin is taped up to cover the bite mark from the cyclops. Under his black T-shirt could be seen largely bruised areas from being tossed around all night. He rubs the plastic necklace around his neck as he waits.

"You think you'll have to move away again?"

The boy looks through the rear view mirror to see a dark-skinned girl sitting in the back seat with black hair that comes down to her shoulders and she wears scale-designed spandex that ends at her bare feet.

"Not sure, Lorena," the boy sighs. "It's not like it'll make a difference to me anyway. It's my ma I'm worried about."

"I know, Danny," the girl nods. "I can hear your thoughts, remember?"

Danny smirks with a silent chuckle before glancing over to see his mother walking toward the car. "Better beat it, Lorena."

The girl nods then fades away as Priscilla opens the door and sits in the driver's seat, closing the door with a deep sigh.

"You aren't losing your job are you?" Danny asks with a worried face.

"No," Priscilla shakes her head as she starts the car. "No. Chief was just worried about you."

"Hm..." is Danny's only reply as he gazes out the window at the passing cars and buildings.

For a moment there's only silence between the two of them...

"So? You wanna tell me what happened last night?" Priscilla asks in a demanding tone.

Danny sighs. "I came to watch you and the guys put out the fire, like usual. Then I saw someone run in from the back...since I couldn't get anyone's attention...I went in after them..."

"Danny!"

"I'm sorry ma!" Danny flinches as though she were about to hit him. "What was I suppose to do? Just run the risk of them burning to death?"

Priscilla sighs and rubs her forehead. "Okay, what happened next."

Danny straightens himself out. "I was looking for the guy, then I heard a girl crying. And when I went to check it out, I got attacked by a cyclops."

Priscilla nods. "So it _was_ a cyclops..."

**…**

"...the boys said the thing only had one eye," the fireman shrugs at Jace's question.

"This definitely looks like cyclops powder," Colt says as he lets the sand-like powder slip from his hands.

"Any weapons?" Jace asks the fireman.

"No," he shakes his head. "Reports said they were tearing each other apart with their bare hands."

"Bare hands? Impossible," Colt shakes his head with a smirk.

"Nothing's impossible Colt. Improbable, unlikely, but never impossible," Steve shakes his head as he gives the place a look over.

Jace turns towards one of the holes in the walls where Bruce comes in with splintered wood crunching under his footfalls. "Bruce, you're the best hand-to-hand combat expert we have at the moment; what do you think?"

He shrugs. "Damage like this can definitely come out of a demigod fighting a cyclops barehanded, though I imagine this demigod is stronger than the average Ares kid."

"Come again?" Colt arches a brow in clarity.

"The damage could have been a lot worse," Bruce explains as he walks into the room and scoots away some of the debris with Colt's help. "See this crater? It's deep, not wide. Tells me the kid was focusing on obliterating the cyclops, not the apartment. It's not perfect but…the kid has some control over his strength. And even with the hardest punch I probably couldn't make a hole that deep into the foundation without unsettling the entire structure."

"So we're likely looking for the damn chosen one, great," Colt sighs lightly.

"Possibly a martial artist – best way of controlling ones power, and a son of Ares if we can believe on can cause all this damage," Steve adds. "Either way we should probably get this kid back to camp. Not for his sake but for the sake of this city." He lights a cigarette as he speaks and lets out a puff of it from his mouth.

Jace nods then turns to the firefighter. "You said you knew this kid?"

"Yeah," he nods. "He belongs to my coworker, Priscilla Ber."

Colt lets out a snort of laughter.

"What now Colt?" Jace demands with a tone of annoyance.

"A Jewish demigod! That's rich!" Colt chuckles and sighs before heading out of the room.

Everyone rolls their eyes as Steve lets out another puff of smoke.

"I am going to capown his ass the next Capture the Flag…" Steve says before turning to follow Colt out.

**…**

Danny sat on the edge of the roof against the stone railing, reading his Teen Titans comic book with a focused expression. He has been a comic book fan since his dad got him his very first Wonder Woman comic, thus he very much was raised as a DC fan though he lived in a Marvel-ruled area. Needless to say he was eventually introduced to Marvel comics and while they tend to have better characters by his standards, he still finds himself collecting the comics he first fell in love with: The Teen Titans. He loves all the characters from Robin to Cyborg and even Wondergirl. But his most favorite – _by far_ – is Aquagirl.

Suddenly, his concentration is broken as he quickly rolls away from a barefoot colliding against the stone railing. Lorena misses her initial strike but then leaps off of her foot to throw a kick that Danny quickly retreats from. He tosses away his comic book then throws up an elbow to guard against a powerful haymaker from the girl. The intense impact would make Danny skid backwards before he flexes his feet to stop himself only to be tripped as the girl swiftly spins into a sweeping maneuver. But as Danny lands on his back, he quickly spins on his shoulder into a sweeping kick of his own and Lorena crashes onto her back. Danny then swings back around with a sweeping knee but Lorena rolls out of the way then swings her momentum to climb to her feet as Danny does the same.

They stay there in their respective fighting stances before Danny launches into a flying knee. Lorena sidesteps it then swings a hook that Danny ducks away from and he counters with a low hook into her midsection. She flinches as Danny throws an uppercut to her chin but then Lorena uses the momentum to back flip and kick Danny into the air. As she lands, she spins and launches a kick that launches the airborne Danny towards the stone railing. His legs get caught on it and he topples over the edge, thankfully Lorena grabs his leg before he could fall.

Danny tries to catch his breath as he hangs upside down. "Alright, I give up! You won this one!"

"Good…now give me your hand!" Lorena grunts as she starts to pull him up. He misses the first few times but finally Danny is able to reach up and grab her hand and she is able to pull him to safety. They both collapse against the small stone wall with a light pant.

"One of these days, I _will_ beat you," Danny says with a smirk.

"Not unless you start paying attention to your surroundings," Lorena laughs. "I taught you how to control your strength but now I need to teach you to use the environment to your advantage."

He nods slightly. "Yeah, the cyclops certainly used the environment to _his_ advantage last night…"

She nods in agreement. "Yeah, I'm sorry I couldn't come to help."

"Eh…I couldn't concentrate," Danny shakes his head. "Too focused on trying to fight him off." Just then, Danny would feel his pocket vibrate and he reaches in to pull out his phone and look at the messages.

_I got some Burger King, come on down._

_~ Ma_

He smirks with a silent chuckle. "I damn near destroyed a building and she gets me burgers for lunch…"

Lorena chuckles. "She must be proud of you for _not_ destroying the apartment. She really loves you, Danny."

"I know," he sighs in content then glances up at her. "I'll see you later Lorena."

"Always look forward to it, Danny," she smiles as she fades away from view. Danny climbs to his feet then heads for the doorway to the stairs.

**…**

It wasn't long before Jace and the others found their way to the address that the fireman had given them. They park the car at the curb then step out before gathering on the sidewalk and looking up collectively at the apartment building.

"Well, this is the place guys," Jace announces. "Steve, overview of the situation."

Steve blows some more smoke from his nostrils. "The kid's all close-quarters, since it's New York and we figure they're hiding so I doubt they'd have guns since it'll bring them too much attention. Considering his strength level, Colt; you and I need to be careful around him. Jace and Bruce could take his hits."

"Remember, his mother _is_ a firefighter, an everyday hero," Jace points out. "Show respect, especially you, _Colt_!"

"What!?" Colt shrugs.

Jace smiles and shakes his head. "Nothing, let's go!"


End file.
